Handling device



June 18,' 1963 GgH. SCHWALM HANDLING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April3,' 1961 INVENToR. GLeNDoN H.

ScHwALM June 18, 1963 G, H, scHwALM v 3,094,349

HANDLING DEVICE INVENToR. GLENDON H. cHwALM United States Patent O FiledApr. 3, 1961, Ser. No. 100,314 9 Claims. (Cl. 294-115) This inventionrelates .to handling `devices of a type `adapted to engage and pick upmaterial or articles upon reception of a first momentary stimulus and torelease the articles or materials in response to a second stimulus. Theinvention is herein disclosed in the embodiment of a wire holding deviceparticularly intended for usage on a wire handling and stackingapparatus as disclosed in the copendi-ng application of Glendon H.Schwalm et al., Serial No. 100,340, liled April 3, 1961, now Patent No.3,062,390 However, the invention is obviously amenable to alternativeuses as will be `apparent upon a reading of the following specification.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved holding orhandling `device for materials or articles which is responsive toexternal actuation to pick up, hold, and release the material or articlebeing handled. A further object is to provide a handling ydevice havingmaterial or article holding means which can be closed oropened uponreception of an actuating force, the direction of the actuating motionbeing received from the same direction for both closing and opening theholding means. A still further object is to provide a handling apparatusin which the holding jaws or their equivalents are closed uponapplication of a single instantaneous actuating stroke of an externaldevice and the jaws remain closed until application at a later time of asingle actuating stroke.

These and other objects of the invention are achieved in a preferredembodiment comprising an axially hollow sleeve having wire gripping jawspivotally mounted on one of its ends. A control shaft is slidablymounted within this sleeve and has, on one of its ends, a linkage .to

the wire gripping jaws so that uponmovement of this shaft from aretracted position to an extended position, the jaws are closed whilereverse movement of the shaft causes the jaws to open. Latch meansprovided on the sleeve are engageable with the control shaft uponmovement thereof from its retracted to its extended' position to hold itin the *latter positionand to maintain the jaws in the closed condition.The shaft itself is axially hollow and :has a latch release rod disposedthereinrwhich is engageable with the above-mentioned latch means ytorelease theshaft from its latch engagement iwith the sleeve and topermit the jaws to open. In a preferred embodi-` ment the entirestructu-re'as ldescribed thus far is mounted within a housing which inturn is mounted on a conveyor `and is adapted to pick up Iand hold wiresor yother filamentary devices during movement' :of the conveyor.

In the drawing:

FIGURE l is a sectional view `of the prefer-red embodiment showing theparts in their normal positions and with the jaws open.

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view looking in the direction of the arrows 2-2of FIGURE l.

FIGURE 3 Ais a view similar to FIGURE l but showing- 3,094,349 Patented.lune 18, 1963 ice The reference numeral 2 denotes a generallycylindrical housing which is mounted in a block 3. The block is, in turnsecured to a conveyor (not shown) so that wires or the like can bepicked up at one station along the path of the conveyor, transported toa second station and released at the second station. Housing 2 has anexternal shoulder 4, a lower internal shoulder 6, and an upper internalshoulder 8 intermediate its ends. The hollowl interior of the `housingis thus divided into an upper portion which is of a relatively largerdiameter than the lower portion below the shoulder `8. An axially hollowsleeve lo is slidably mounted vwithin the 4housing and has an enlargedupper end 12 which bears against the interior surface of the upperportion of the housing. The lower end of .this sleeve extends throughand bears against a reduced `diameter opening 14 in the lower end of thehousing so that the sleeve assembly is axially guided within the housingduring downward movement with respect thereto. The enlarged upper endvof the sleeve is provided with idiametrically opposite radial slots `16within which pawl members 13 are mounted on pivot pins 2t?. A circularspring 24 is positioned within a circumferential groove in the enlargedupper end of the sleeve and normally biases these pawls inwardly of thesleeve and against a control shaft section 50 refenred to and describedbelow. The lower ends of the pawls have edges 26 which diverge from thesleeve axis while the ends of the pawls have reversely extending edges23 which serve as a locking means as will be described below.

Sleeve ltlf` is normally biased to the position shown in FIGURE l bymeans of a coil spring 30 which surrounds the sleeve and is interposedbetween the enlarged upper end 12 thereof and the internal shoulder 6 ofthe housing. The entire sleeve assembly can be moved downwardly, yasshown in FIGURE 3, against the force of this spring until the enlargedupper portion of the sleeve engages the interna-l shoulder y8 of thehousing. Advantageously, the snap ring 32 is provided on the sleeveadjacent its lower end to prevent it from moving upwardly beyond theposi- :tion shown in FIGURE `1. IIt is also `desirable in some instancesto prevent rotation of the sleeve `relative to the housing and in thedisclosed embodiment this is achieved by means .of a keyway 36 in thesleeve which receives a key or pin 34l in the housing.

A pair of spaeed-apant ears 38 extend from the lower end of sleeve 10. Apin 40 extending between these ears serves a common pivotal mounting fora pair of wiregripping jaws 42, 44. The opening and closing of thesejaws is controlled by links 45, 47 which are each pivoted at one end toone of the jaws and at their opposite ends to a common pivot pin 49 onthe lower end of the lower control shaft section 48. This lower shaftsection is slidably mounted within `sleeve 10 as is the upper shaftsection 50, a relatively stili coil spring 52 being interposed betweenthe vtwo shaft sections. The shaft sections are normally biased upwardlyto the positions shown in FIGURE 1 Vby means of a coil spring 54 mountedwithin the hollow lower shaft section 48 and effective between a rst pin56 in sleeve 10 and a second pin 60 in shaft section 48. The pin 60 issecured in the lower shaft section and 'the pin-56 is secured in thesleeve, a slot 58 being provided in the lower shaft section Ito permitit to move with respect to ithe sleeve 10. The upper shaft section 50also has a pin 62 therein which extends into slots 64 in the sleeve 10thereby to retain theupper shaft section in the sleeve while permittingrelative movement yof this upper section with respect to the sleeve.

The upper shaft section 50 has a bore extending axially inwardly 'fromits upper end and is slotted as shown at 66, the slots 66beingcircumfereritially aligned with the previously described slots 16.When the parts are in the positions of FIGURE 1, the pawl members 18bear against the upper shaft section 50 at a location below the limitsof the slots, however, upon downward movement of the shaft, the pawlsmove inwardly and into slots 66 under the inuence of `spring member 24until the edges 28 of the pawls latch the Shaft in `its rela-tivelyextended or lowered position with respect to the sleeve. Thus, it willbe apparent that the jaws can be closed by pressing downwardly on ltheenlarged upper end or head 67 of the upper shaft section 58.

A latch release rod 68 is slidably received within the bore in uppershaft section 50, the limits of its movement being controlled by la pinslot connection 72, 74 between these two parts. The lower end of thisrod iS conical as shown in 70 so that it will engage and cam the pawls18 radially outwardly when it is moved downwardly relative to ltheshaft. The upper end of this latch release rod also has an enlarged endor head 76, the diameter of this head advantageously being somewhatsmaller than the diameter of the head 67 of the upper shaft section. Acoil spring 78 is interposed between the underside of latch release rod76 and surface 67 of the upper shaft section normally to bias the rodupwardly to the position shown in FIGURES l-5.

For best results the springs 30, 54, 52 and 78 must be selected withsome care as regards their stiffnesses. The spring 30 should be onlysufficiently stiff to bias the sleeve to the position of FIGURE 1against the force of friction and the weight of the sleeve, shaftsections and the control rod. The spring 54 should be relatively morestiff (i.e. have a higher spring constant) than spring 30 so that uponapplication of a downward force on the shaft head 67, the spring 30 willyield prior to yielding of the spring 54. The spring 52 should berelatively stiff and should not yield appreciably until spring 54 iscompressed by a downward force on the shaft head. The spring 78 shouldbe relatively weak as should the circular spring 24 although thestiffness of springs 78 and 24 is not as important as the previouslymentioned springs. The impoiitance of a judicious selection of thesesprings will be apparent from the description of the operation of thedevice which follows.

At the outset the parts are in the position of FIGURE 1 with the jaws42, 44 open and with both the sleeve and the shaft 48, 50 in their upperpositions. The sleeve 10 and the shaft 48, 50 are iirst lowered to theposition :of FIGURE 3 to position the jaws on each side of the wire.This lowering of the jaws is achieved by pressing on the upper surface67 of the upper shaft section by means of a suitable depressing device84 which is actuated from an external source such as a solenoid. Duringthis phase of the operation the spring 30 yields while the spring 54remains substantially uncompressed so that the positions of the sleeveand the shaft do not change with respect to each other. The depressingdevice 84 then continues to move downwardly and the spring 54 iscompressed with concomitant downward movement `of the shaft sectionswith respect to the sleeve. During this interval links 4S, 47 arestraightened (FIGURE 4), the jaws closed, and the slots 66 are lowereduntil the pawls 18 are permitted to move inwardly until their edges 28engage the lower edges of these slots. In this manner the shaft 48, 50is latched in its lowered position with respect to the sleeve and :thejaws are maintained in the closed condition of FIGURE 4. After the jawshave been closed about the wire, the depressor 84 is disengaged from thesleeve andthe entire sleeve-shaft assembly rises (FIG- URE 5) until snapring 32 bears against the lower end of the housing. It is while theparts are in the position of FIGURE 5 that the wire is transponted from`a first station to a second station.

Upon arrival at the second station, a depressor 86 is brought .to bearagainst the enlarged head 76 of the latchrelease rod and this rod ispressed downwardly until its conical end cams the pawls 18 out ofengagement with the lower end of the slots 66. Upon such movement of'the pawls, [the shaft sections 48, 50 are free to return upwardly totheir retracted position under the influence of spring 54 which waspreviously held in the compressed condition of FIGURES 4 and 5. FIGURE 6shows the beginning of this upward movement of the shaft and the initialopening of the jaws. In order to achieve this m0- tion, spring 54 mustbe capable `of overcoming spring 78.

It should be pointed out that the shaft sections 48, 50 can be madeintegral with each other if desired and the structure will be somewhatsimplified as compared with the disclosed embodiment. The two-part shaftwith the interposed spring 52 is employed in order to ensure delicatehandling of the wires. The spring 52 acts as ta shock absorber so thatwhen the jaws close on the wire, the spring will yield after the wirehas been firmly gripped and the jaws will not move further. Thisprevents the insulation of the wire from being tightly pinched betweenthe jaws and possibly damaged. Obviously with some other types ofmaterials, the spring 52 would not be required and the two shaftsections could therefore be made integral. It should also be noted thatunder some circumstances the external housing 2 can be dispensed with ifit is not necessary that the entire jaw assembly and the shaft andsleeve be lowered to pick up the article or material. The pin and keywayaligning means 34, 36 between the housing and the sleeve is alsorequired in the disclosed embodiment in order to ensure that the jawswill be properly aligned with respect to the wire. Again, this featurecan be eliminated under some conditions if alignment of the jaws ortheir equivalent is not essential.

In FIGURE 6 fthe sleeve-shaft sub-assembly 10, 48, 50 is shown in itsretracted position although the latch release rod is depressed relativeto these pants. It will be apparent, however, that if spring 30 isrelatively weaker than either spring 78 or spring 24, the spring 30 willbe partially compressed and the sleeve-shaft assembly will be moveddownwardly somewhat prior to release of the pawls from the sleeve. Thisdownward movement is desirable if it is preferable to release thearticle held by the jaws at a level lower than their normal level. Underother circumstances it may be a matter of no significance whether thesleeve-shaft assembly is lowered or not. In any event, this movement ofthe sleeve and lowering of the jaws can be obtained or not, as desired,by a careful selection of the springs 78, 24 land 30.

Changes in construction will occur to those skilled in the art tandvarious apparently different modifications and embodiments may be madewithout departing from the scope vof the invention. The matter set forthin the foregoing description .and accompanying drawings is offered byway of illustrati-on only. r[The actual scope of the :invent-ion isintended to be defined in the following claims when viewed in theirproper perspective against the prior art.

I claim:

1. A holding device comprising, a sleeve, closable holding means on oneend of said sleeve, shaft means slidably mounted in said sleeve, meansacting between said holding means and said shaft means to close saidholding means upon movement of said shaft means from a retractedposition, relative to said sleeve, to an extended position, resilientmeans acting between said sleeve and said shaft means normally to biassaid shaft means to said retracted position, latch means effectivebetween said shaft means and said sleeve to latch said sleeve in saidextended position, and latch release means in said shaft means todisengage said latch means and permit opening of said holding meansunder the influence of said resilient means.

2. A holdin-g device comprising, a sleeve, a pair of jaws pivotallymounted on said sleeve at one end thereof, a shaft slidably mounted insaid sleeve, ya pair of links pivotally connecting one end of saidsleeve with said jaws whereby, upon movement of said shaft from aretracted position to an extended position said jaws are closed, springmeans effective between said shaft and said sleeve normally to bias saidsleeve to said retracted position, latch means effective between saidshaft and said sleeve to latch said sleeve in said extended position,and latch release means in said shaft and engageable with said latchmeans to disengage said latch means and permit opening of said jawsunder the influence of said resilient means.

3. A holding 'device comprising, a sleeve, a pair of jaws pivotallymounted on said sleeve at one end thereof, a shaft slidably mounted insaid sleeve, -a pair of links pivotally connecting one end of saidsleeve with said jaws whereby, upon movement of said shaft from aretracted position Ito an extended position said jaws are closed, springmeans effective between said shaft and said sleeve normally to bias saidsleeve to said retracted position, latch means effective between saidshaft and said sleeve to latch said sleeve in said extended position,and latch release means in said shaft and engageable with said latchmeans .to disengage said latch means and permit opening of said jawsunder the influence of said resilient means, the end of said -sleeveopposite to said one end having an enlarged head for engagement by anexternal device to move said sleeve from its retracted position to itsextended position, 'and said latch release means extending beyond saidenlarged head and being engageable by an external device Ifor movementthereof into engagement with said latch means.

4. A holding device comprising, a sleeve, a pair of jaws pivotallymounted on said sleeve at one end thereof, a shaft slidably mounted insaid sleeve, a linkage connecting lone end of said sleeve with said jawswhereby, upon movement of said shaft from a retracted position to anextended position said jaws are closed, spring means effective betweensaid shaft and said sleeve normally to bias said sleeve to saidretracted position, aligned axially extending slots in said shaft andsaid sleeve, latch means in said slot in said sleeve, resilient meansnormally biasing said latch means towards said shaft whereby uponmovement of said shaft from its retracted position to its extendedposition, said latch means engages the edge of said slot in .said shaftthereby to latch said shaft in its extended position and to maintainsaid jaws closed, and a latch release rod slidably mounted in saidshaft, said rod normally being out of engagement with said latch butbeing movable into engagement therewith to release said shaft fromlatched engagement with said sleeve and to permit retractile movement ofsaid shaft with concomitant opening of said jaws.

5. A holding device comprising, a sleeve, a pair of jaws pivotallymounted on said sleeve at one end thereof, a shaft slidably mounted insaid sleeve, la linkage connecting one tend of said sleeve with saidjaws whereby, upon movement of said shaft from a retracted position toan extended position said jaws `are closed, a pin in said sleeve and aslot in said shaft, said pin extending through said slot to permitImovement; of said shaft relative to said sleeve, a spring in said shaftand effective between said shaft and said pin normally to bias saidshaft to its retracted position, aligned axially extending slots in saidshaft and said sleeve, a ptawl pivotally mounted in said slot in saidsleeve, resilient means normally biasing said pawl towards said shaftwhereby, upon movement of said 6 shaft from its retracted position toits extended position, said pawl engages the edge of said slot in saidshaft thereby to latch said shaft in its extended position and tomaintain said jaws closed, 'and a rod slidably mounted in said shaft,said rod normally being out of engagement with said pawl but beingmovable into engagement therewith- .to release said shaft from latchedengagement with said sleeve and to permit retractile movement of saidshaft with concomitant opening of said jaws.

6. A gripping device comprising, ya housing, a sleeve slidably mountedin said housing and movable in a iirst direction from -a retractedposition to an extended position at which one end of said sleeve extendsbeyond one end of said housing, a iirst resilient means acting betweensaid housing and said sleeve normally to bias said sleeve to saidretracted position, closable ygripping means on said one end of saidsleeve, shaft means slidably mounted in said sleeve, one end of saidshaft means being connected to said gripping means to cause closingthereof upon movement of said shaft means in said first directionrelative to said sleeve and to cause opening of said gripping means uponmovement `of said shaft means in the opposite direction, said shaftmeans being in an extended position relative to said sleeve when saidgripping means are closed and being in a retracted position relative tosaid sleeve when said gripping means are open, a second resilient meansacting between said shaft means and said sleeve normally to bias saidshaft means to said retracted position, lat-ch means on said sleeve andengageable with said shaft means when in its relatively extendedposition to retain said shaft means in said extended position with saidjaws closed, rand a latch release rod disposed in said shaft means, saidlatch release rod being resiliently biased in the direction opposite tosaid first direction and being movable in said first direction todisengage said latch means from said shaft means, whereby said sleeve ismoved to its extended position and said gripping means is closed whensaid shaft means is moved in. said first direction to its extendedposition and said gripping means is opened upon movement of said rod insaid opposite direction.

7. Apparatus as set forth in claim 6 wherein said shaft means is in twoparts and including a relatively stiiT resilient means interposedbetween said two parts.

8. Apparatus as set forth in claim 6 wherein said second resilient meanscomprises a spring in said shaft means and interposed between a pin insaid shaft means and a pin in said sleeve extending through an elongatedslot in said shaft means.

9. Apparatus as set forth in claim 6 wherein said gripping meanscomprises a pair of jaws pivotally mounted in said one end of saidsleeve, a pair of links each being pivotally connected at yone end tosaid jaws and being pivotally connected at their opposite ends to saidone end of said shaft means.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,575,185 Stenhouse Mar. 2, 1926 1,888,929 McDowell Nov. 22, 19322,018,511 .Connelly Oct. 22, 1935 2,979,358 Jerkins et al. Apr. 11, 1961

1. A HOLDING DEVICE COMPRISING, A SLEEVE, CLOSABLE HOLDING MEANS ON ONEEND OF SAID SLEEVE, SHAFT MEANS SLIDABLY MOUNTED IN SAID SLEEVE, MEANSACTING BETWEEN SAID HOLDING MEANS AND SAID SHAFT MEANS TO CLOSE SAIDHOLDING MEANS UPON MOVEMENT OF SAID SHAFT MEANS FROM A RETRACTEDPOSITION, RELATIVE TO SAID SLEEVE, TO AN EXTENDED POSITION, RESILIENTMEANS ACTING BETWEEN SAID SLEEVE AND SAID SHAFT MEANS NORMALLY TO BIASSAID SHAFT MEANS TO SAID RETRACTED POSITION, LATCH MEANS EFFECTIVEBETWEEN SAID SHAFT MEANS AND SAID SLEEVE TO LATCH SAID SLEEVE IN SAIDEXTENDED POSITION, AND LATCH RELEASE MEANS IN SAID SHAFT MEANS TODISENGAGE SAID LATCH MEANS AND PERMIT OPENING OF SAID HOLDING MEANSUNDER THE INFLUENCE OF SAID RESILIENT MEANS.